The Bethlehem stable church

We went to the basilica and grotto in Bethlehem where the stable below is where Jesus was born. We went down into the stable which is actually a cave. Since there was a paucity of wood, everything was made out of stone. The manger is actually the feeding trough for animals. In the church there are three Christian sects that live in the church- Greek Orthodox, Armenian and Catholic- they all have separate churches within the basilica. The Mosaic than can be seen through the floor was in 400 AD. The next conquerors built a bigger church on top but did not use the mosaic because that church was smaller and represented something religious which they did not want to use.